The Wisconsin State Journal has an article on the commitment from yesterday too. Here's a fantastic quote from his mom:

Now that Maymon has his basketball future mapped out, his mother — and others —will make sure his academics don't keep him from getting there.

"He could fall and hurt himself and be out of the running as a basketball player," Latanya Maymon said. "Then what are you going to be? A big, dumb jock? I refuse to have a big, dumb jock; I want him to have more substance than (that)."

Finally, don't forget to check out Jeronne's wiki page for a comprehensive overview. There is a ton of information on his game, style of play, additional links, and even a few video clips.

10 comments:

Reading the Q&A with Jeronne's dad, I think you really see what it's like to make sweeping generalities about these players and their dads (myself included).

At the end of the day, I found it really refreshing that his dad was open about the fact that 'hey, his mom and I can patronize him all day. He needs to hear the truth to get better and Buzz did that.'

That was great to read and I'll give Buzz all the credit in the world for - what appears to be - a non-snake-oil salesman way of recruiting. He didn't promise the kid the world like others. He told him the truth and let the chips fall where they may.

Realistically, that won't always get MU the player that it's after, but what it will do is get us the players that want to get better; that want to be here; that wan to be all they can be. Those are the guys who will go through walls for you if you are the coach.

And at the end of the day, his dad totally understands the lay of the sports land and just wants what's best for his son.

Really excited to see him play. And 7'6" wingspan??? Are you kidding me?

Keeping McNeal in the fold? Just exactly how did Buzz get NBA scouts and GMs to tell McNeal he wouldn't be drafted?

By the way, if reports of Crean basically hand-picking his "successor" at MU are correct, then we have a group of incompetent boobs -- completely lacking in confidence in themselves and the university -- "running" a Top 25 basketball program.

I wonder why Bill Self wasn't allowed to pick his successor at Illinois? Or Roy Williams at Kansas? Even Pitt interviewed other guys and didn't consult Howland.

I'm beginning to view my alma mater as a complete joke. And from what my fellow alums are saying, I'm in the majority.

Richard,I have a feeling some people might start calling you Dick very soon.

Whether Crean helped pick Buzz or not really doesn't matter anymore. I am happy to see Crean gone and appreciate his work here. But we did need a change.The way he handled his departure was lame but he cared about what was left behind because he made himself available. We'll never really know if the admin let him actually pick Buzz but im guessing they just took his advice into serious consideration. When they weren't able to connect with other guys on the short list they game Williams a Buzz.

Who did you want? I wanted Bennett but am over it and was the day of the press conference.

If you are so ashamed just go somewhere else like Notre Dame. I heard Charlie Weiss needs a towel coach to wipe his nose and lips.

Well stated and please see the comments for the Buzz Williams video interview post. I (the more laid back, cautiously optimistic, non-Dick -Richard) already called our pessimistic friend by that name a couple days ago. Posts like that make me wish I could change my display name (I go by Rick anyways) so that nobody confuses me with the over-the-top angry richard.

On topic, I think Buzz has done all the right things thus far so I'll continue to support him and our program as I always have. Now lets hope he can get us a PG!

You guys are extremely clever. What you didn't do is answer two things:

1. How is Buzz Williams responsible for McNeal (or James for that matter) returning to school?2. Are you OK with letting our former coach choose his successor?

Guys, call me all the names you want. We hired a guy who is not qualified to be our coach. He might work out, he might not. But the fact that he isn't nearly qualified is not debatable.

His recruiting "prowess" has netted us a couple junior college kids (GASP!), and a couple commitments for next year. These commitments include one who desperately wanted to go to Wisconsin, but they wouldn't touch him for a variety of reasons. The other, I believe, never visited campus.

If that excites you, things must be awfully lonely in each of your homes.

Nobody is more incensed over how Buzz was hired than I am, but that doesn't mean I want him to fail just to prove my opinion correct.

That being said, I think that for what Crean did for the school, he should be listened too for an opinion on who a good replacement would be. To ignore him completely would be petty. That's not to say he gets to hand-pick the guy at all, but his two-cents is valid, regardless of how he left the school and the bad taste it left in many of our mouths. Listen to him, take notes and move on.

It's incumbent on the administration, then, to do its due diligence in finding a replacement; something they did not do at all, but that still doesn't mean we can't get lucky and be successful which is the end game.

But to sit there and not give Buzz any credit at all for the players he's gotten? Now that is petty.

Did you pay attention to Crean's shortcomings in the last nine years? He supposedly could never get a good big guy. Buzz has not secured two top 100 power forwards for next year already and has three scholarships left. And, Maymon was a guy Crean's staff was jerking around. Buzz got him in basically three-four weeks of hard sell and telling the kid what he needed to hear.

Give credit where credit is due. And if two top 100 guys to start off the 09 recruiting class isn't good enough for you, you should become a front-running fan for another team.

I'm not going to sit here and say that Buzz is the only reason that McNeal and James are back, and I don't think most (key word alert) objective fans are saying that either. (ps...message boards aren't a true representation of a fan base.)

What I will say is that it's obvious that those two can't wait to play for Buzz and for that reason, I think one can safely say that Buzz probably made the decision a lot easier for them, even though the NBA option wasn't available for either.

I'm all for being critical of the process if you want, but it's over and there's nothing that will change that in the near future, so why not get behind the coach instead of rip on him? You may think he's unqualified, but YOU have never seen him coach a game and you obviously don't follow recruiting very closely, otherwise you would know that Buzz has a great rep and his results speak for themselves.

Wisconsin didn't want Maymon and neither did Crean...so what. Nobody disputes Maymon's ability, so if Buzz can keep him on track, you'll be very happy that he took this chance. And with 5 spots to give, he could afford to take this chance.

Argue all you want about whether Erik Williams is a Crean recruit or not, but the evidence points to Buzz being the man and the fact that he is still committed to us reinforces that fact. This is how I know you don't follow recruiting. Erik Williams set foot on campus during Midnight Madness last year and was blown away. So much so he committed right after. It's Joe Fulce and Jimmy Butler that never set foot on campus before committing, but they trust Buzz so much that they didn't have to.

I don't know if Buzz was the right hire, but I think people are tired of the criticisms by now. The process, however flawed it was, is over. So lets get behind our Coach like all the process-naysayers say they will and support the man.

Maymon's commitment automatically raises the profile of Buzz because the kid is a top 60 recruit. Just wait and see what follows. With Erik Williams in the fold (arguably top 50 and some say, better than Jamil Wilson), the '09 class is going to be very, very special.